Eligibility for and Needs Covered by EA

Emergency assistance is available for food and shelter needs of financial groups. To be eligible for EA, a financial group must have a shelter or food need that was caused by natural disaster or that resulted from the financial group’s lack of income or cash resources during the month of application and the prior month sufficient to prevent the emergency. The lack of sufficient available money must have resulted from money becoming unavailable due to circumstances beyond the group’s control. Circumstances beyond the group's control include:

(1) Theft that occurs notwithstanding the financial group’s reasonable precautions to prevent theft.

(2) The need to use the money for unexpected and necessary expenditures, such as the payment for car repairs when the car is used for work or for a family emergency.